Friday, 28 August 2009

Kitchen notes, ingredients, substitutions

As an Australian on the big world wide web, I sometimes feel that the terms I use are difficult to understand for those outside our country. We use a strange hybrid of English and American terms and ingredients. So I have cobbled together a list of terms and translations for both Aussies venturing abroad and for those trying to understand Australian cooking and my cooking.

This information is intended to be useful rather than definitive. It is a work in progress so I will continue to tidy it and add links where helpful. (Apologies for the dogdy spacing right now - I am trying to fix it but my html skills are limited so this table is a challenge.) Any corrections, questions or comments can be sent to me at gggiraffe07[AT]yahoo[DOT]com[DOT]au.

KITCHEN NOTES:

My methods: I am a slapdash cook. My blog has shown me how much I tweak recipes as I go and I try to reflect that in the recipe I write out on this blog. I believe that in baking once you know the rules you can break them. I have been baking long enough to have a feel for how things work - though I still occasionally have a cake which comes out of the oven uncooked on the inside. But I just put it back in the oven. My mum tells me I must not change anything in a sponge cake recipe. I often adjust ingredients depending on what I have in the house. I share what I do rather than what I should do, but with some reflections.

My oven - My oven is an old gas oven (and not fan-forced). I don't always preheat but try to when I am organised. I notice I often need more time in the oven than recipes specify. Having used new electric and gas ovens, I am aware that others may need to take this into account when reading my recipes.

My oven cooks unevenly. I used to use a large baking tray but have recently bought two smaller trays which I find much easier for rotating cookies/biscuits or mini muffin trays for more even baking.

Lining cake tins - In my recipes I often say grease and line the tin. This is what I usually do - I spray the sides of a cake tin with oil (light olive oil) and use baking paper to line the bottom. If it is a square or oblong cake tin, I just let it go up two opposite sides. If it is a round cake tin, I cut out a circle of paper for the bottom. If I am using silicone cake tins I don't grease, oil or line the tin.

Measurements. The measurements I use are Australian cup (1 cup = 250ml) and spoon measurements (my tablespoon is 15ml which may not be an Australian measure), and/or metric. For conversions, go to Real Food for Real People or Gourmet Sleuth.Sometimes I say a handful or a sprinkle of an ingredient because it is not important to have an exact amount and you can adjust it according to whim and desire.

INGREDIENTS TRANSLATIONS:(asterisk [*] indicates that it is not an exact translation)

Dutch cocoa - this is a dark better quality cocoa - I am a little confused about how it compares to the American dutch processed cocoa which seems a lower quality cocoa.

Milk - I use low fat milk. I don't really like the taste of milk so I let E choose the milk we have. In an ideal world I would have vegan milk occasionally but we don't use it enough to justify buying two milks.

Onions - I always use brown onions, unless otherwise specified. I don't usually say peeled but I always peel them.

Pumpkin - we have pumpkin all year round and in all shapes and sizes - but I have learnt that in America/Briatin some of what we call pumpkins are winter squash - for example our butternut pumpkin is American and Brits Butternut Squash. We use Queensland Blue, Jap and Kent pumpkin a lot - they are large pumpkins with blue or dark green skin - they seem quite like kabocha squash - see my pumpkin post for more info.

Oh wow, amazing!! As coming from a Canadian family and growing up in NZ, but with my mother's Canadian cookbooks, I've always struggled with not having butterscotch chips available here. I definitely have to try chopping up some jersey caramels as a substitute though!

Brilliant! thanks from America for the ingredient translations, I'll definitely refer back to it. Since I've been reading you there have been a few times I was unsure about a few ingredients and after studying your list I think I've got it now :)

Thanks Lisa - it took me a while to understand what half and half was - in fact I don't think I could have written most of this before I started blogging. have updated the applesauce info to say I use granny smith apples - these are the apples I usually have about.

Thanks Vegetation - I use applesauce so rarely and never see it in the shops so I just stew apples when I need it - maybe if I bought it I would use it more because would need to use it up

Thanks Coffeetwist - I would love to be able to buy butterscotch chips - tried the jersey caramels for the first time recently and think it worked - still need to experiment more

thanks Sarah - glad this is helping bridge the gap! Let me know if you have more uncertainties.

Thanks Sophie - I think I need to check about the napa cabbages - I got it from a website that claimed Australians don't use the term spring onions - which is incorrect - so the cabbage might be too - will look into it more - and am happy to tell you that we do have golden syrup as I love using it

Thanks Ashley - as I said to Sophie - I think maybe the napa cabbage and bok choy line will have to go - but tasty cheese can stay - love it too!

Thanks Ricki - as you will see in other comments this is a work in progress but glad it is good reading :-)

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About Me

Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.